Users of certain vehicles, such as bicycles, motorcycles or scooters, are vulnerable groups of road users. The small size of these vehicles compared to other vehicles, especially from the front or rear of these vehicles, makes it harder for other road users to notice them. Accidents that involve these vehicles are often due to lack of visibility of the vehicles or misjudgment of the distance to the vehicles. As a result, there exists a demand among users of these vehicles for front lights, rear lights and brake lights to alert other road users of the presence of these vehicles, particularly during high risk maneuvers, for example, when these vehicles are braking, slowing down or changing direction. Federal and state laws normally allow for front lights, rear lights and brake lights for motorcycles or bicycles, although in many states constant blinking lights are not allowed.
Light units for vehicles like motorcycles or bicycles normally have an incandescent bulb, or more commonly an array of Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), typically with white or red LEDs. It is also known to provide control circuitry to cause LEDs to flash at a predetermined rate. Flashing LEDs are often preferred as being more efficient in energy saving and more effective at attracting the attention of other road users as compared to light units with continuous illumination. In some cases, riders use a RF remote control to activate or deactivate lighting units. However, a problem with existing bicycle or motorcycle light units is that they do not indicate to viewer that the vehicles are decelerating, braking or changing direction by providing variations in illumination. Thus, more intelligent lighting systems are needed to provide better visibility for vehicles like motorcycles, bicycles or scooters during certain high risk maneuvers.
The solutions that are currently available for such intelligent lighting require a sensor enclosed in a light unit itself, or a sensor attached to wheels or a braking system to detect either deceleration, the depression of the brake lever, or other changes in the braking system like movements of a cable or brake pad. These lighting systems can be complex and cumbersome to develop and install. When a sensor for a light unit is placed remotely from the light unit itself, it requires wires to connect it to the light unit. However, a lighting system with wirings between a light and an external sensor is complex. This makes the lighting system unreliable, and hard to be removed or transferred from vehicle to vehicle. When a sensor is enclosed in a light unit itself, it will make the light unit hard or almost impossible to be upgraded, such as adding additional sensors or functionalities. Moreover, existing intelligent lighting units on vehicles like motorcycles or bicycles are relatively expensive, considering the separate sensors enclosed in the light units or mounted on these vehicles.
To solve the above identified technical problems, example embodiments of the present invention leverage sensor(s) provided for a portable electronic device, such as a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PAD), or any other handheld or wearable devices, to enrich and upgrade the functionalities of a vehicle accessory like a lighting system. Through leveraging the sensors of a portable electronic device, an accessory may not need to use separate sensors to sense the condition changes of a vehicle or its surrounding environment. Particularly, some example embodiments of the invention allow motorcycle or bicycle riders to enhance the visibility of their vehicles, by triggering lights in response to relevant data sensed by sensor(s) of portable electronic devices.
Moreover, most handheld or wearable devices, such as smartphones, PADs or Apple watches, are also equipped with Internet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other communication capabilities, so that communications between these devices and accessories can easily be enabled as well. By virtue of the various short range communication capabilities of a portable electronic device, although a sensor of the device is placed some distance from an accessory, wired connections may not be required to enable communications between the sensor and the accessory.
By leveraging sensors and communication capabilities provided for a portable electronic device, a vehicle accessory can be easily developed and installed. The accessory is reliable and can be easily removed or transferred from vehicle to vehicle. Considering the sensor(s) and the communication module are provided by the portable electronic devices, the intelligent accessory may be relatively inexpensive.
Further, certain example embodiments of the invention increase the visibility of vehicles like motorcycles or bicycles while still complying with state and federal laws, and doing so in an easy, natural and even automatic way.
Some example embodiments are directed to a lighting system for a vehicle. The lighting system comprises a portable electronic device and a lighting accessory. The portable electronic device includes one or more sensors configured to sense parameters of the vehicle and/or surrounding environment; and a processing system including at least one processor. The processing system is configured to at least determine whether a predetermined condition change of the vehicle and/or surrounding environment is detected by the one or more sensors; in response to the detection of the predetermined condition change, generate a signal controlling the lighting accessory to modify illumination and/or perform a predetermined process; and transmit the generated signal to the lighting accessory. In certain example embodiments, the predetermined condition change includes decelerating, braking, accelerating, turning, or proximity to another object of the vehicle, or a change in sound level, light level, temperature, location, and/or gravity of the surrounding environment.
It is envisioned that the lighting accessory in one example embodiment includes a communication module; one or more lighting elements; and one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to at least receive the generated signal from the portable electronic device via the communication module, and modify illumination of at least one of the one or more lighting elements and/or perform the predetermined process according to the received signal. Further, the lighting accessory may be attachable to a vehicle or the rider.
In an example embodiment, the one or more lighting elements of the lighting accessory include a main light, a braking light, a laser light, a left turning light, and/or a right turning light. For example, the main light includes a red light, and the left turning light and the right turning light include a yellow light.
In some example embodiments, the predetermined process includes blinking at least one of the one or more lighting elements, making a sound, and/or raising an alarm, for a predetermined time period, and the modifying illumination includes turning off, turning on, and/or flashing the at least one of the one or more lighting elements. For example, a laser light may be configured to emit laser light(s) to mark the road in close proximity to the vehicle when a predetermined dark level is reached.
In another example embodiment, the lighting accessory receives the signal from the portable electronic device via Internet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, or NFC.
In yet another example embodiment, the processing system of the portable electronic device is further configured to display a user interface to enable a user to configure the modification of the illumination and/or the performance of the predetermined process, and/or display another user interface enabling a user to review or change a status or mode of at least one of the one or more lighting elements.
Some example embodiments are directed to a method of leveraging sensors of a portable electronic device to enhance the functionality of a light accessory including one or more lighting elements. The method comprises detecting condition changes of a vehicle and/or surrounding environment by one or more sensors of the electronic device; determining whether a predetermined condition change of the vehicle and/or surrounding environment is detected; in response to the detection of the predetermined condition change, generating a signal controlling the lighting accessory to modify illumination of one or more lighting elements and/or perform a predetermined process; and transmitting the generated signal to the lighting accessory.
In an example embodiment, the predetermined condition change includes decelerating, braking, accelerating, turning, or proximity to another object of the vehicle, or a change in sound level, light level, temperature, location, and/or gravity of the surrounding environment.
In another example embodiment, the predetermined process comprises blinking the at least one of the one or more lighting elements, making a sound, and/or raising an alarm, for a predetermined time period.
In yet another example embodiment, the modifying illumination comprises turning off, turning on, and/or flashing the at least one of the one or more lighting elements.
In certain example embodiments, the method may further comprise displaying a user interface to enable a user to configure the modification of the illumination and/or the performance of the predetermined process, and/or displaying a user interface enabling a user to review or change a status or mode of at least one of the one or more lighting elements.
Some example embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein, upon executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, the computer-executable instructions cause the one or more processors to detect condition changes of a vehicle and/or surrounding environment by one or more sensors of the electronic device; determine whether a predetermined condition change of the vehicle and/or surrounding environment is detected; in response to the detection of the predetermined condition change, generate a signal controlling a lighting accessory to modify illumination of one or more lighting elements and/or perform a predetermined process; and transmit the generated signal to the lighting accessory.
In an example embodiment, the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to display a user interface to enable a user to configure the modification of the illumination and/or the performance of the predetermined process.
In another example embodiment, the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to display a user interface enabling a user to review or change a status or mode of at least one of the one or more lighting elements.
The exemplary embodiments, aspects, and advantages disclosed herein may be provided in any suitable combination or sub-combination to achieve yet further exemplary embodiments.